A toy car in the figure below runs off the edge of a table that is h = 1.375 m high. The car lands d = 0.375 m from the base of the table. How long did it take the car to fall?
The time to fall can be calculated from the cliff height H alone, assuming it starts the dive horizontally.
T = sqrt (2H/g)
g is the acceleration of gravity.
To determine the time it took for the car to fall, we can use the equation of motion for vertical free fall:
h = (1/2)gt^2
Where:
h is the height (1.375 m in this case)
g is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s^2)
t is the time of fall (what we want to find)
Rearranging the equation, we get:
t^2 = 2h/g
Taking the square root of both sides:
t = √(2h/g)
Substituting the given values:
t = √(2 * 1.375 m / 9.8 m/s^2)
t = √(0.2745 m / 9.8 m/s^2)
t = √(0.02797 s^2)
t ≈ 0.167 s
Therefore, it took approximately 0.167 seconds for the car to fall.